Wells Fargo's Carlos Evans opens up about the person who came to his rescue in a crisis

It's rare for a banker, especially one at the top of One Wells Fargo Center, to open up about his personal life in an interview.

But Carlos Evans, who will retire this month, did just that yesterday during an hour-long interview in his 40th-floor office. In a moment of true candor, he acknowledged that in September 2008 he went home to his wife, Lisa, and told her everything they had worked for could be lost. Her response was telling.

Evans, who leads commercial banking for Wells Fargo & Co.'s eastern region, will always be remembered in Charlotte for his role during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. Evans was in charge of commercial banking at Wachovia as the Charlotte-based lender teetered near calamity and collapse in September 2008. He also sat on the United Way of Central Carolinas Inc. board of directors.

As the bank began to crumble and Evans' career was at risk, a scandal erupted over the compensation of ex-United Way head Gloria Pace King, forcing her resignation. Some on the board also stepped aside. The baton for leading the charity out of the crisis fell to Evans.

In our interview, we talked about those difficult days, repeating some of the well-documented lessons Charlotte learned. As the meeting drew to a close, I asked the same question I close every interview with, "Is there anything else you'd like to add?"

"I’ll give you one," Evans said in his South Carolina drawl. "I don’t know how to say this."

His voice trailed off and he stood up and closed his office door.

"When all the stuff happened, when it really unwound, when it unwound," he said, voice trailing again. He leaned back and gathered his thoughts.

"It took me 24 hours. Less than that," he said about his decision to accept the chairmanship of the United Way that fall.

"The reason I made that decision so fast was I went home to my wife," he said. "She knew we were in trouble. Financially, we were in trouble. It wasn’t everything. It wasn’t going to be out on the street. But pretty much everything is gone.

"So I’m telling my wife I can’t deal with this (United Way). I don’t think I can. There’s too much going on. If I don’t preserve my job, if I'm not able to keep my job, I don’t know," he said.

"I told her if I don’t keep my job we may have to start over," Evans said. "She knew we had everything tied up in Wachovia. But until that moment I don’t know if she fully knew. It’s always been an equal partnership. But she left a lot of the financial stuff to me. I told her it was bad. Really bad.

"She looks at me and she says, ‘We started with nothing. I can do nothing again.’ It was like that (snaps fingers). It wasn’t a moment’s hesitation. She said, ‘You go do what you think is right.’ "

"So, I’ve had an incredible partner. Every step of the way," he concluded. "You ask me my advice — whether you’re a woman or a man, go find yourself a good partner. Whether you’re gay or heterosexual, go find yourself somebody who can be a great partner and support you in whatever you do."

You can read more from our interview in Friday's CBJ print edition. Evans will end his banking career on May 31. His last day in his office in Charlotte will be next Thursday.

But this week he celebrated something more important: His 36th wedding anniversary with Lisa. It’s engraved on his gold wedding band, lest he forget, May 13, 1978.